An  Account  of  our  late  Trou'bles 
in  Virginia,  written  by 

Mrs.  Ann  Cotton, 

A  List,  c  ^  those  Y'hc  :\  xve  heen 
executed  for  the  I.-.te      lollion  In 
Virginia,  by  Sir  Williair  BerJ^eley. 


^■IlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllJIIIIIII 

1  Trinity  College  Lil)rary 

1        Durham,  N.  C. 


Rec'd  _       /_  >1 1    1  _  _  _  1 


AMERICAN 

Colonial  Tracts 

MONTHLY 


Number  Nine  January  1898 


AN  ACCOUNT  OF  OUR  LATE  TROUBLES  IN 
VIRGINIA,  WRITTEN  IN  1676  BY  MRS.  ANN 
COTTON  OF  Q.  CREEK.  PUBLISHED  FROM 
THE  ORIGINAL  MANUSCRIPT,  IN  THE  RICH- 
MOND (VA.)  ENQUIRER  OF  I2TH  SEPTEMBER, 
1804. 

A  LIST  OF  THOSE  WHO  HAVE  BEEN  EX- 
ECUTED FOR  THE  LATE  REBELLION  IN  VIR- 
GINIA, BY  SIR  WILLIAM  BERKELEY,  GOVERNOR 
OF  THE  COLONY. 

c 


Price  25  Cents  $3.00  a  Year 

Published  by  -  ' 

GEORGE  P  HUMPHREY 

ROCHESTER 

Foreign  Agents  GAY  &  BIRD  London  England 


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Europe  and  the  Colonies.  The  number  for  February  will  con- 
tain A  Narrative  of  the  Indian  and  Civil  Wars  in  Virginia, 
in  the  years  1675  1676. 


Recently  Issued. 


HISTORIC  NEW  YORK— The  Half  Moon  Series.  Edited 
by  Maud  Wilder  Goodwin,  Alice  Carrington  Royce,  and 
Ruth  Putnam.    Illustrated,  8vo,  gilt  top.  $2.50 


CONTENTS. 


Fort  Amsterdam. 

By  Maud  Wilder  Goodwin. 


The  Stadt  Huys  of  New  Amsterdam. 
By  Alice  Morse  Earle. 

Wall  Street. 

By  Oswald  Garrison  Villard. 

Annetje  Jan's  Farm. 
By  Ruth  Putnam. 

The  City  Chest  of  New  Amsterdam. 
By  E.  Dana  Durand. 


Old  Wells  and  Water-Courses. 
By  George  Everett  Hill  and 
George  E  Waring  Jr. 


Part  I. 


Old  Wells  and  Water-Courses.    Part  II. 
By  George  Everett  Hill  and 
George  E.  Waring,  Jr. 

Old  Greenwich. 

By  Elizabeth  Bisland. 

The  Fourteen  Miles  Round. 

By  Alfred  Bishop  Mason  and 
Mary  Murdock  Mason. 

King's  College. 

By  John  B.  Pine. 

The  Bowery. 

By  Edward  Ringwood  Hewitt  and 
Mary  Ashley  Hewitt. 

Governor's  Island. 

By  Blanche  Wilder  Bellamy. 


Entered  at  the  Rochester  Post-Office  as  Second  Class  Matter. 


AN  ACCOUNT 


OF 


OUR  LATE  TROUBLES 


IN 


VIRGINIA 


WRITTEN  IN  1676  BY  MRS.  AN.  COTTON,  OF 
Q.  CREEKE. 


Published  from  the  original  manuscript  in  the  Richmond  (Va.) 
Enquirer  of  12  September,  1804. 


NO  9  JANUARY  i8q8 

Colonial  tracts 

Pubiished  by  GEORGE  P  HUMPHREY 
ROCHESTER  N  Y 


VOL.1. COLONIAL  TRACTS  N0.9. 


OUR  LATE  TROUBLES. 


To  Mr.  C.  H.,  at  Yardly,  in  Northampto7ishire : 

C IR  :  I  having  seen  yours  directed  to  ,  and  con- 

^  sidering  that  you  cannot  have  your  desires  satisfied  that 
way,  for  the  forementioned  reasons,  I  have  by  his  permission 
adventured  to  send  you  this  brief  account  of  those  affairs,  so  far 
as  I  have  been  informed. 

The  Susquehanians  and  Marylanders  of  friends  being 
engaged  enemies,  as  hath  by  former  letter  been  hinted  to  you, 
and  that  the  Indians  being  resolutely  bent  not  to  forsake  their 
fort,  it  came  to  this  point,  that  the  Marylanders  were  obliged, 
finding  themselves  too  weak  to  do  the  work  themselves,  to  sup- 
plicate— too  soon  granted — aid  of  the  Virginians,  put  under  the 
conduct  of  one  Colonel  Washington,  him  whom  you  have  some- 
times seen  at  your  house,  who,  being  joined  with  the  iVlary- 
landers,  invests  the  Indians  in  their  fort  with  a  negligent  siege, 
upon  which  the  enemy  made  several  sallies,  with  as  many  losses 
to  the  besiegers,  and  at  last  gave  them  the  opportunity  to  desert 
the  fort,  after  that  the  English  had,  contrary  to  the  law  of 
arms,  beat  out  the  brains  of  six  great  men  sent  out  to  treat  a 
peace  ;  an  action  of  ill-consequence,  as  it  proved  afterwards,  for 
the  Indians  having  in  the  dark  slipped  through  the  Legure,  and 
in  their  passage  knocked  ten  of  the  besiegers  on  the  head, 
whom  they  found  fast  asleep,  leaving  the  rest  to  prosecute  the 
siege  (as  Scoging's  wife  brooding  the  eggs  that  the  fox  had 
sucked),  they  resolved  to  employ  their  liberty  in  avenging  their 
commissioners'  blood,  which  they  speedily  effected  in  the  death 
of  sixty  innocent  souls,  and  then  sent  in  their  remonstrance  to 
the  governor  in  justification  of  the  fact,  with  this  expostulation 
annexed  :  demanding  what  it  was  moved  him  to  take  up  arms 
against  them,  his  professed  friends,  in  behalf  of  the  Mary- 
landers, their  avowed  enemies  ;  declaring  their  sorrow^  to  see 
the  Virginians  of  friends  to  become  such  violent  enemies  as  to 


4 


pursue  the  chase  into  another's  dominions  ;  complains  that  their 
messengers,  sent  out  for  peace,  were  not  only  knocked  on  the 
head,  but  the  fact  countenanced  by  the  governor,  for  which, 
finding  no  other  way  to  be  satisfied,  they  had  revenged  them- 
selves by  killing  ten  for  one  of  the  English,  such  being  the  dis- 
proportion between  their  men  murdered  and  those  by  them 
slain,  theirs  being  persons  of  quality,  the  other  of  inferior  rank  ; 
professing  that  if  they  may  have  a  valuable  satisfaction  for  the 
damage  they  had  sustained  by  the  English,  and  that  the  Vir- 
ginians would  withdraw  their  aid  from  the  Marylanders' 
quarrel ;  that  then  they  would  renew  the  league  with  Sir  W. 
B.,*  otherwise  they  would  prosecute  the  war  to  the  last  man, 
and  the  hardest  fend  of. 

This  was  fair  play  from  foul  gamesters.  But  the  proposals 
not  to  be  allowed  of  as  being  contrary  to  the  honor  of  the 
English,  the  Indians  proceed,  and,  having  drawn  the  neighbor- 
ing Indians  into  their  aid  in  a  short  time,  they  committed 
abundance  of  unguarded  and  unrevenged  murders,  by  which 
means  a  great  many  of  the  outward  plantations  were  deserted, 
the  doing  whereof  did  not  only  terrify  the  whole  colon}/,  but 
supplanted  what  esteem  the  people  formerly  had  for  Sir  W.  B., 
whom  they  judged  too  remiss  in  applying  means  to  stop  the 
fury  of  the  heathen,  and  to  settle  their  affections  and  expecta- 
tions upon  one  Esquire  Bacon,  newly  come  to  the  country,  one 
of  the  council,  and  nearly  related  to  your  late  wife's  father-in- 
law,  whom  they  desired  might  be  commissioned  general  for  the 
Indian  war,  which  Sir  William,  for  some  reasons  best  known  to 
himself,  denying,  the  gentleman,  without  any  scruple,  accepts 
of  a  commission  from  the  people's  affections,  signed  by  the 
emergencies  of  affairs  and  the  country's  danger,  and  so  forth- 
with advanced  with  a  small  party,  composed  of  such  that  own 
his  authority,  against  the  Indians,  on  whom,  it  is  said,  he  did 
signal  execution.  In  his  absence  he,  and  those  with  him,  were 
declared  rebels  to  the  state,  May  29th,  and  forces  raised  to 
reduce  him  to  his  obedience,  at  the  head  of  which  the 
governor  advanced  some  thirty  or  forty  miles  to  find  Bacon 
out,  but  not  knowing  which  way  he  was  gone,  he  dismissed 
his  army,  retiring  himself  and  council  to  Jamestown,  there  to 
be  ready  for  the  assembly,  which  was  now  upon  the  point  of 

*  Sir  William  Berkeley,  the  Governor  of  Virginia. 


o 

meeting,  whither  Bacon,  some  few  days  after  his  return  home 
from  his  hidian  march,  repaired  to  render  an  account  of  his 
services,  for  which  he,  and  most  of  those  with  him  in  the 
expedition,  were  imprisoned ;  from  whence  they  were  freed  by 
a  judgment  in  court  upon  Bacon's  trial,  himself  readmitted  into 
the  council,  and  promised  a  commission  the  Monday  following 
(this  was  on  Saturday)  against  the  Indians ;  with  which 
deluded,  he  smothers  his  resentments,  and  begs  leave  to  visit 
his  lady,  now  sick,  as  he  pretended,  which  being  granted,  he 
returns  to  town  at  the  head  of  four  or  five  hundred  men,  well 
armed,  and  resumed  his  demands  for  a  commission,  which, 
after  some  hours'  struggle  with  the  governor,  being  obtained, 
according  to  his  desire,  he  takes  order  for  the  country's  security 
against  the  attempts  of  sculking  Indians,  fills  up  his  numbers 
and  provisions  according  to  the  gage  of  his  commission,  and  so 
once  more  advanced  against  the  Indians,  who,  hearing  of  his 
approach,  called  in  their  runners  and  scouts,  betaking  them- 
selves to  their  subterfuges  and  lurking-holes.  The  general, 
for  so  he  was  now  denominated,  had  not  reached  the  head  of 
York  river,  but  that  a  post  overtakes  him  and  inform.s  him  that 
Sir  W.  B.  was  raising  the  train-bands  in  Gloucester,  with  an 
intent  either  to  fall  into  his  rear,  or  otherwise  to  cut  him  off 
when  he  should  return,  weary  and  spent  from  his  Indian  ser- 
vice. This  strange  news  put  him  and  those  with  him  shrewdly 
to  their  trumps,  believing  that  a  few  such  deals  or  shui^les, 
call  them  which  you  will,  might  quickly  ring  both  cards  and 
game  out  of  his  hands  ;  he  saw  that  there  was  an  absolute 
necessity  of  destroying  the  Indians,  and  that  there  was  some 
care  to  be  taken  for  his  own  and  the  army's  safety,  otherwise 
the  work  might  happen  to  be  wretchedly  done,  where  the 
laborers  were  made  cripples,  and  be  compelled  instead  of  a  sword 
to  make  use  of  a  crutch.  It  vexed  him  to  the  heart,  as  he  said, 
to  think  that  while  he  was  a  hunting  wolves,  tigers,  and  bears, 
which  daily  destroyed  our  harmless  and  innocent  lambs,  that 
he  and  those  with  him  should  be  pursued  in  the  rear  with  a 
full  cry,  as  more  savage  beasts;  he  perceived,  like  the  corn, 
he  was  light  between  those  stones,  which  might  grind  him  to 
powder  if  he  did  not  look  the  better  about  him,  for  the  prevent- 
ing of  which,  after  a  short  consultation  with  his  officers,  he 
countermarched  his  arm)^,  about  five  hundred  in  all,  down  to 


6 


the  middle  plantation,  of  which  the  governor  being  informed, 
ships  himself  and  adherers  for  Accomack  (for  the  Gloster  men 
refused  to  own  his  quarrel  against  the  general),  after  he  had 
caused  Bacon,  in  these  parts,  to  be  proclaimed  a  rebel  once 
more,  July  29th. 

Bacon,  being  sate  down  with  his  army  at  the  middle 
plantation,  sends  out  an  invitation  to  all  the  prime  gentlemen 
in  these  parts,  to  give  him  a  meeting  in  his  quarters,  there  to 
consult  how  the  Indians  were  to  be  proceeded  against,  and 
himself  and  army  protected  against  the  designs  of  Sir  W.  B., 
against  whose  papers  of  the  twenty-ninth  of  May,  and  his 
proclamation  since,  he  puts  forth  his  replication  and  those 
papers  upon  these  dilemmas. 

First,  whether  persons  wholly  devoted  to  the  king  and 
country,  haters  of  sinister  and  by-respects,  adventuring  their 
lives  and  fortunes  to  kill  and  destroy  all  in  arms  against  king 
and  country  ;  that  never  plotted,  contrived,  or  endeavored  the 
destruction,  detriment,  or  wrong,  of  any  of  his  majesty's  sub- 
jects, their  lives,  fortunes,  or  estates,  can  deserve  the  names 
of  rebels  and  traitors.  Secondly,  he  cites  his  own  and  soldiers' 
peaceable  behavior,  calling  the  whole  country  to  witness  against 
him  if  they  can  ;  he  upbraids  some  in  authority  with  the  mean- 
ness of  their  parts,  others,  now  rich,  with  the  meanness  of 
their  estates  when  they  came  into  the  country,  and  questions 
by  what  just  ways  they  have  obtained  their  wealth,  whether 
they  have  not  been  the  sponges  that  have  sucked  up  the 
public  treasury ;  questions  what  arts,  sciences,  schools  of 
learning,  or  manufactories,  have  been  promoted  in  authority  ; 
justifies  his  aversion  in  general  against  the  Indians ;  upbraids 
the  governor  for  maintaining  their  quarrel,  though  ever  so 
unjust,  against  the  Christians'  rights,  his  refusal  to  admit  an 
Englishman's  oath  against  an  Indian,  when  that  Indian's  bare 
word  should  be  accepted  of  against  an  Englishman  ;  said  some- 
thing against  the  governor  concerning  the  beaver  trade,  as  not 
in  his  power  to  dispose  of  to  his  own  profit,  it  being  a  monopoly 
of  the  crown ;  questions  whether  the  traders  at  the  heads  of 
the  rivers,  being  his  factors,  do  not  buy  and  sell  the  blood  of 
their  brethren  and  countrymen,  by  furnishing  the  Indians  with 
powder,  shot,  and  firearms, contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  colony  ; 
he  arraigns  one  Colonel  Cowell's  assertion,  for  saying  that 


7 


the  English  are  bound  to  protect  the  Indians,  to  the  hazard  of 
their  blood  ;  and  so  concludes  with  an  appeal  to  the  king  and 
parliament,  where  he  doubts  not  but  that  his  and  the  people's 
cause  will  be  impartially  heard. 

To  comply  with  the  general's  invitation,  hinted  in  my  former 
letter,  there  was  a  great  convention  of  the  people  met  him  in 
his  quarters,  the  result  of  which  meeting  was  an  engagement, 
for  the  people  (of  whatsoever  quality,  excepting  servants)  to 
subscribe  to,  consisting  of  three  heads  :  First,  to  be  aiding,  with 
their  lives  and  estates,  the  general  in  the  Indian  war ;  secondly, 
to  oppose  Sir  William's  designs,  if  he  had  any,  to  hinder  the 
same;  and  lastly,  to  protect  the  general,  army,  and  all  that 
should  subscribe  to  this  engagement,  against  any  power  that 
should  be  sent  out  of  England,  till  it  should  be  granted  that  the 
country's  complaint  might  be  heard,  against  Sir  William,  before 
the  king  and  parliament^.  These  three  heads  being  methodized 
and  put  into  form  by  the  clerk  of  the  assembly,  who  happened 
to  be  at  this  meeting,  and  read  to  the  people,  they  held  a  dis- 
pute from  almost  noon  till  midnight,  pro  and  con,  whether  the 
same  might,  in  the  last  article  especialy,  be  without  danger 
taken.  The  general,  and  some  others  of  the  chief  men,  were 
resolute  in  the  affirmative,  asserting  its  innocency,  and  protest- 
ing, without  it,  he  would  surrender  up  his  commission  to  the 
assembly,  and  let  them  find  other  servants  to  do  the  country's 
work  ;  this,  and  the  news  that  the  Indians  were  falling  down 
into  Gloster  county,  and  had  killed  some  people  around  Carter's 
creek,  made  the  people  willing  to  take  the  engagement.  The 
chief  men  who  subscribed  it  at  this  meeting  were  Colonel 
Swan,  Colonel  Beale,  Colonel  Ballard,  Esquire  Bray,  all  four 
of  the  council.  Colonel  Jordan,  Colonel  Smith  of  Purton,  Col- 
onel Scarsbrook,  Colonel  Miller,  Colonel  Lawrance,  and  Mr. 
Drommond,  late  governor  of  Carolina,  all  persons  with  whom 
you  have  been  formerly  acquainted. 

This  work  being  over,  and  orders  given  for  an  assembly  to 
sit  on  the  fourth  of  September,  the  writs  being  issued  in  his 
majesty's  name,  and  signed  by  four  of  the  council,  before 
named,  the  general  once  more  sets  out  to  find  the  Indians  :  of 
which  Sir  William  having  gained  intelligence,  to  prevent  Bacon's 
designs  by  the  assembly,  returns  from  Accomack  with  about 
one  thousand  soldiers,  and  others,  in  five  ships  and  ten  sloops, 


8 


to  Jamestown,  in  which  were  some  nine  hundred  Baconians, 
for  so  now  they  began  to  be  called  for  a  mark  of  distinction, 
under  the  command  of  Colonel  Hansford,  who  was  commis- 
sioned by  Bacon  to  raise  forces,  if  need  were,  in  his  absence, 
for  the  safety  of  the  country.  Unto  these  Sir  William  sends  in 
a  summons  for  a  rendition  of  the  place,  with  a  pardon  to  all 
that  would  decline  Bacon's,  and  entertain  his  cause.  What 
was  returned  to  this  summons  I  i<now  not,  but  in  the  night  the 
Baconians  forsake  the  town,  by  the  advice  of  Drommond  and 
Lawrance  (who  were  both  excepted  in  the  governor's  summons, 
out  of  mercy),  every  one  returning  to  their  own  abode,  except- 
ing Drommond,  Hansford,  Lawrence,  and  some  few  others, 
who  went  to  find  the  general,  now  returned  to  the  head  of 
York  river,  having  spent  his  provisions  in  following  the  Indians, 
on  whom  he  did  some  execution,  and  sent  them  packing  a  great 
way  from  the  borders. 

Before  that  Drommond,  and  those  with  him,  had  reached 
the  general,  he  had  dismissed  his  army  to  their  respective 
habitations,  to  gather  strength  against  the  next  intended 
expedition,  excepting  some  few  reserved  for  his  guard,  and 
persons  living  in  these  parts,  unto  whom,  those  that  came  with 
Hansford  being  joined,  made  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  in  all. 
With  these.  Bacon,  by  a  swift  march,  before  any  news  was 
heard  of  his  return  from  the  Indians,  in  these  parts,  comes  to 
town,  to  the  consternation  of  all  in  it,  and  there  blocks  the 
governor  up,  which  he  easily  effected  by  this  unheard  of 
project :  he  was  no  sooner  arrived  at  town,  but  by  several 
small  parties  of  horse,  two  or  three  in  a  party,  for  more  he 
could  not  spare,  he  fetcheth  into  his  little  Leagure  all  the  prime 
men's  wives,  wiiose  husbands  were  with  the  governor,  as 
Colonel  Bacon's  lady,  Madame  Bray,  Madame  Page,  Madame 
Ballard,  and  others,  who,  the  next  morning,  he  presents  to  the 
view  of  their  husbands  and  friends  in  town,  upon  the  top  of 
the  small  work  he  had  cast  up  in  the  night,  where  he  caused 
them  to  tarry  until  he  had  finished  his  defense  against  his 
enemies'  shot,  it  being  the  only  place,  as  you  do  know  well 
enough,  for  those  in  town  to  make  a  sally  at,  which  when  com- 
pleted, and  the  governor  understanding  that  the  gentlewomen 
were  withdrawn  to  a  place  of  safety,  he  sent  out  some  six  or 
seven  hundred  of  his  soldiers,  to  beat  Bacon  out  of  his  trench. 


9 


But  it  seems  that  those  works,  that  were  protected  by  such 
charms  while  raising,  that  plugged  up  the  enemy's  shot  in  their 
guns,  could  not  now  be  stormed  by  a  virtue  less  powerful, 
when  finished,  than  the  sight  of  a  few  white  aprons,  otherwise 
the  service  had  been  more  honorable  and  the  damage  less, 
several  of  those  who  made  the  sally  being  slain  and  wounded, 
without  one  drop  of  blood  drawn  from  the  enemy.  Within 
two  or  three  days  after  this  disaster,  the  governor  reships  him- 
self, soldiers,  and  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  town,  and  their 
goods,  and  so  to  Accomack  again,  leaving  Bacon  to  enter  the 
place  at  his  pleasure,  which  he  did  the  next  morning  before 
day,  and  the  night  following  burned  it  down  to  the  ground,  to 
prevent  a  future  siege,  as  he  said,  which  flagrant  and  flagitious  \ 
act  performed,  he  draws  his  men  out  of  town,  and  m.arched 
them  over  York  river,  at  Tindell's  point,  to  find  Colonel  Brent, 
who  was  advancing  fast  upon  him  from  Potomack,  at  the  head 
of  twelve  hundred  men,  as  he  was  informed,  with  a  design  to 
raise  Bacon's  siege  from  before  the  town,  or  otherwise  to  fight 
him,  as  he  saw  cause  ;  but  Brent's  soldiers  no  sooner  heard  that 
Bacon  had  got  on  the  north  side  of  York  river,  with  an  intent 
to  fight  them,  and  that  he  had  beat  the  governor  out  of  the 
town,  and  fearing  if  he  met  with  them  that  he  might  beat  them 
out  of  their  lives,  they  basely  forsook  their  colors,  the  greater 
part  adhering  to  Bacon's  cause,  resolving  with  the  Persians  to 
go  and  worship  the  rising  sun,  now  approaching  near  their 
horizon  ;  of  which  Bacon  being  informed,  he  stops  his  proceed- 
ings that  v/ay,  and  begins  to  provide  for  another  expedition 
against  the  Indians,  of  whom  he  had  heard  no  news  since  his 
last  march  against  them  ;  which  while  he  was  a  contriving,  death 
summoned  him  to  more  urgent  affairs,  into  whose  hands,  after 
a  short  siege,  he  surrenders  his  life,  leaving  his  commission  in 
the  custody  of  his  lieutenant-general,  one  higram,  newly  come 
into  the  country. 

Sir  William  no  sooner  had  news  that  Bacon  was  dead  but 
he  sent  over  a  party,  in  a  sloop,  to  York,  who  snapped  Colonel 
Hansford  and  others  with  him,  that  kept  a  negligent  guard  at 
Colonel  Reade's  house,  under  his  command.  When  Hansford 
came  to  Accomack,  he  had  the  honor  to  be  the  first  Virginian 
born  that  was  ever  hanged  ;  the  soldiers,  about  twenty  in  all, 
that  were  taken  with  him,  were  committed  to  prison,  Captain 


10 


Carver,  Captain  Wilford,  Captain  Farloe,  with  five  or  six  others 
of  less  note,  taken  at  other  places,  ending  their  days  as  Hans- 
ford did  ;  Major  Cheesman  being  appointed,  but  it  seems  not 
destined  to  the  lil<e  end,  v/hichhe  prevented  by  dying  in  prison, 
through  ill-usage,  as  it  is  said. 

This  execution  being  over,  which  the  Baconians  termed 
cruelty  in  the  abstract,  Sir  William  ships  himself  and  soldiers 
for  York  river,  casting  anchor  at  Tindell's  pointy  from  where 
he  sent  up  one  hundred  and  twenty  men,  to  surprise  a  guard 
of  about  thirty  men  and  boys,  kept  at  Colonel  Bacon's  house, 
under  the  command  of  Major  Whaley,  who,  being  forewarned 
by  Hansford's  fate,  prevented  the  designed  conflict,  with  the 
death  of  the  commander-in-chief,  and  the  taking  some  prisoners  ; 
Major  Lawrence  Smith,  with  six  hundred  men,  meeting  with  the 
like  fate  at  Colonel  Pate's  house  in  Gloster, against  Ingram,  the 
Baconian  general,  only  Smith  saved  himself  by  leaving  his  men 
in  the  lurch,  being  all  made  prisoners,  whom  Ingram  dismissed 
to  their  own  homes  ;  Ingram  himself,  and  all  under  his  com- 
mand, within  a  few  days  after,  being  reduced  to  his  duty,  by 
the  well  contrivance  of  Captain  Grantham,  who  was  now  lately 
arrived  at  York  river,  which  put  a  period  to  the  war,  and 
brought  the  governor  ashore  at  Colonel  Bacon's,  where  he  was 
presented  with  Mr.  Drommond,  taken  the  day  before  in  Chicka- 
hominy  swamp,  half  famished,  as  he  himself  related  to  my 
husband  ;  from  Colonel  Bacon's,  the  next  day,  he  was  conveyed 
in  irons  to  Mr.  Bray's,  whither  the  governor  had  removed,  to 
his  trial,  where  he  was  condemned,  within  half  an  hour  after 
his  coming  to  Esquire  Bray's,  to  be  hanged  at  the  middle  planta- 
tion within  four  hours  after  his  condemnation,  where  he  was 
accordingly  executed,  with  a  pitiful  Frenchman.  Which  done, 
the  governor  removed  to  his  own  house,  to  settle  his  and  the 
country's  repose,  after  his  many  troubles,  which  he  effected 
by  the  advice  of  his  council  and  an  assembly,  convened  at  the 
Green  spring,  where  several  were  condemned  to  be  executed, 
prime  actors  in  the  rebellion,  as  Esquire  Bland,  Colonel  Cruse, 
and  some  others,  hanged  at  Bacon's  trench.  Captain  Yong  of 
Chickahominy,  Mr.  Hall,  clerk  of  New  Kent  court,  James  Wil- 
son, once  your  servant,  and  one  Lieutenant-colonel  Page  (one 
that  my  husband  bought  of  Mr.  Lee,  when  he  kept  store  at 
your  house),  all  four  executed  at  Colonel  Read's,  over  against 


11 


Tindell's  point,  and  Anthony  Arnell,  the  same  that  did  live  at 
your  house,  hanged  in  chains  at  West  Point,  besides  several 
others  executed  on  the  other  side  of  James  ri\-er — enough,  they 
say,  in  all,  to  outnumber  those  slain  in  the  whole  war  on  both 
sides,  it  being  observable  that  the  sword  was  more  favorable 
than  the  halter,  as  there  wsls  a  greater  liberty  taken  to  run 
from  the  sharpness  of  the  one  than  would  be  allowed  to  shun 
the  dull  emibraces  of  the  other,  the  hangman  being  more  dread- 
ful to  the  Baconians  than  their  general  was  to  the  Indians,  as 
it  is  counted  more  honorable  and  less  terrible  to  die  like  a 
soldier  than  to  be  hanged  like  a  dog. 

Thus,  sir.  have  I  rendered  you  an  account  of  our  late 
troubles  in  Mrginia,  u-hich  I  ha\-e  performed  too  wordishly, 
but  I  did  not  know  how  to  help  it.  Ignorance  in  some  cases  is 
a  prevalent  overture  in  pleading  for  pardon  ;  I  hope  mine  may 
have  the  fortune  to  prove  so  in  the  behalf  of. 


Y  DEAR  :  Although  those  who  have  depicted  that  fickle 


goddess,  Fortune,  ha\-e  represented  her  under  various 
shapes,  thereby  to  denote  her  inconstancies,  yet  do  I  think 
there  is  not  anything  sublunary  subjected  to  the  vicissitudes  of 
her  temper  so  much  as  is  the  condition  and  estate  of  mankind. 
All  things  else  partake  something  of  a  steadfast  and  permanent 
degree  except  man  in  the  state  of  his  affairs.  The  sun  is  con- 
stant in  his  annual  progress  through  the  zodaic,  the  moon  in 
her  changes,  the  other  planets  in  their  aspects.  The  produc- 
tions of  the  earth  have  a  fixed  constant  season  for  their  growth 
and  increase,  when  that  m.an,  in  his  creation  little  inferior  to 
the  angels,  cannot  promise  unto  himself  a  fixed  condition  this 
side  of  hea\-en. 

How  many  hath  thou  and  I  read  of,  that  the  sun  hath  shined 
upon  in  the  east,  with  honors  and  dignities,  which  his  western 
beams  hath  seen  clouded  with  po\-erty,  reproaches,  and  con- 
tumelies. The  same  moment  that  saw  Cssar  chief  man  in 
the  senate,  beheld  him  in  a  worse  condition  than  the  meanest 


Sir,  vour  friend  and  ser\-ant. 


From  0,  Creek, 


AN".  Cotton 


To  his  zi'ife.  A.  C.  jA  0.  Creek: 


12 


slave  in  Rome  ;  and  in  less  than  six  hours  Phoebus  eyed  the 
Marquis  of  Ancrey,  in  the  midst  of  his  rustling  train  of  servi- 
tors, not  only  streaming  out  his  blood,  but  spurned  and 
dragged  up  and  down  the  dirty  streets  of  Paris,  by  the  worst 
of  mechanics.  It  is  but  the  other  day  that  I  did  see  N.  B.*  in 
the  condition  of  a  traitor,  to  be  tried  for  his  life,  who  but  a  few 
days  before  was  judged  the  most  accomplished  gentleman  in 
Virginia  to  serve  his  king  and  country  at  the  council  table, 
or  to  put  a  stop  to  the  insolencies  of  the  heathen,  and  the  next 
day  raised  to  his  dignities  again.  Thus  doth  fortune  sport  her- 
self with  poor  mortals,  sometimes  mount  them  up  into  the  air, 
as  boys  do  tennis  balls,  that  they  may  come  with  the  greater 
violence  down,  and  then  again  strike  them  against  the  earth, 
that  they  may  with  ye  greater  speed  mount  up  into  the  air,  etc. 
From  Town,  ]une  g,  'yd. 


Nathaniel  Bacon. 


A  LIST 


OF  THOSE  THAT  HAVE  BEEN  EXECUTED 

FOR  THE 

LATE  REBELLION 

.IN 

VIRGINIA 

By  sir  WILLIAM  BERKELEY,  GOVERNOR  OF  THE  COLONY. 


Copied  from  the  original  manuscript  (Harleian  collection,  codex  6845, 
page  54)  in  the  Library  of  the  British  Museum,  London, 
by  ROBERT  GREENHOW,  ESQ.,  of  Virginia. 


A  LIST  OF  THOSE  THAT  HAVE  BEEN  EXECUTED  FOR  YE 
LATE  REBELLION  IN  VIRGINIA. 

1.  One  Johnson,  a  stirrer  up  of  the  people  to  sedition,  but 
no  fighter.  , 

2.  One  Barlow,  one  of  Cromwell's  soldiers,  very  active  in 
this  rebellion,  and  taken  with  forty  men  coming  to  surprise  me 
at  Accomack. 

3.  One  Carver,  a  valiant  man  and  stout  seaman,  taken 
miraculously,  who  came  with  Bland,  with  equal  commission ,  and 
two  hundred  men  to  take  me  and  some  other  gentlemen  that 
assisted  me,  with  the  help  of  two  hundred  soldiers;  miracu- 
lously delivered  into  my  hand. 

4.  One  Wilford,  an  interpreter,  that  frightened  the  Queen 
of  Pamunkey  from  ye  lands  she  had  granted  her  by  the 
Assembly,  a  month  after  peace  was  concluded  with  her. 

5.  One  Hartford,  a  valiant,  stout  man,  and  a  most  resolved 
rebel. 

All  these  at  Accomack. 

AT  YORK  WHILST  I  LAY  THERE. 

1.  One  Young,  commissioned  by  General  Monck  long  be- 
fore he  declared  for  ye  king. 

2.  One  Page,  a  carpenter,  formerly  my  servant,  but  for  his 
violence  used  against  the  royal  party,  made  a  colonel. 

3.  One  Harris,  that  shot  to  death  a  valiant  loyalist  prisoner. 

4.  One  Hall,  a  clerk  of  a  county,  but  more  useful  to  the 
rebels  than  forty  army  men,  who  died  very  penitent,  con- 
fessing his  rebellion  against  his  king  and  his  ingratitude  to  me. 

AT  THE  MIDDLE  PLANTATION. 

One  Drummond,  a  Scotchman,  that  we  all  supposed  was 
the  original  cause  of  the  whole  rebellion,  with  a  common 
Frenchman,  that  had  been  very  bloody. 

CONDEMNED  AT  MY  HOUSE,  AND  EXECUTED  WHEN  BACON 
LAY  BEFORE  JAMESTOWN. 

1.  One  Colonel  Crewe,  Bacon's  parasite,  that  continually 
went  about  ye  country  extolling  all  Bacon's  actions  and 
justifying  his  rebellion. 

2.  One  Cookson,  taken  in  rebellion. 

3.  One  Darby,  from  a  servant  made  a  captain. 

WILLIAM  Berkeley. 


A GUIDE  IN  THE  WILDERNESS  ;  or  the  History  of  the 
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C851  P11347 


